Cochlea Anatomy Quiz: Test Your Knowledge of Middle Ear

What part of the auditory system can be damaged resulting in nerve deafness?

What can result in nerve deafness?

Which term is used for frequent or constant ringing in the ears?

What may lead to tinnitus according to the text?

What causes conductive deafness?

What is a common factor contributing to hearing problems in older people mentioned in the text?

What structure in the inner ear is responsible for displacing hair cells when there are vibrations in the fluid of the cochlea?

What part of the ear is affected in conductive deafness?

What is the main cause of nerve deafness according to the text?

How do people with conductive deafness hear their own voices even with impaired hearing from external sounds?

In nerve deafness, what is responsible for stimulating the cells of the auditory nerve?

Which type of hearing loss can be corrected by surgery or hearing aids if it persists?

What is the function of the middle ear in the auditory system?

Which of the following is true about the tympanic membrane?

What would happen to an animal if the middle ear's three tiny bones were damaged?

Which type of deafness is associated with issues in the transmission of sound waves through the middle ear?

How do hair cells in the inner ear contribute to hearing?

Why did early land animals only hear low-frequency sounds that were loud enough to vibrate their heads?

Nerve deafness or inner ear deafness results from damage to the cochlea, the hair cells, or the auditory nerve.
It can impair hearing of certain frequencies and not others if confined to one part of the cochlea.
Nerve deafness can be inherited, caused by disease, or caused by exposure to loud noises.

Tinnitus is frequent or constant ringing in the ears.
It can be due to a phenomenon similar to phantom limb, where damage to part of the cochlea is like an amputation.
Axons representing other parts of the body may invade part of the brain area that usually responds to sounds, causing tinnitus.

Sound waves pass through the auditory canal and enter the middle ear, a structure that evolved when ancient fish evolved into land animals.
The middle ear amplifies sound vibrations to enable effective hearing on land.
The structure of the middle ear and inner ear accomplish this amplification.

Sound waves vibrate the tympanic membrane, or eardrum, which connects to three tiny bones (hammer, anvil, and stirrup) that transmit the vibrations to the oval window, a membrane of the inner ear.
The vibrations of the tympanic membrane amplify into more forceful vibrations of the smaller stirrup, like a hydraulic pump.

The stirrup vibrates the oval window, setting into motion the fluid in the cochlea, a snail-shaped structure of the inner ear.
The auditory receptors, known as hair cells, lie between the basilar membrane of the cochlea and the tectorial membrane.
Vibrations in the fluid of the cochlea displace the hair cells, opening ion channels in its membrane, and stimulating the cells of the auditory nerve.

Conductive deafness, or middle ear deafness, occurs when diseases, infections, or tumorous bone growth prevent the middle ear from transmitting sound waves properly to the cochlea.
It can be temporary, and sometimes corrected by surgery or by hearing aids that amplify sounds.
Nerve deafness, or inner ear deafness, occurs when there is damage to the cochlea, hair cells, or auditory nerve.